Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Eve dragged me in for another kiss before we split up and made the trek back up to Lubbock. It was much closer to two hours with so much stuff in the vehicles. On the way, I texted my siblings to meet me at the house. I did not want to unload all of this alone. It’d take a fourth of the time to have them all there.
So, I was happy to find West’s, Jordan’s, and Julian’s cars on the street when we pulled up to the house. I hopped out and clapped hands with West as he came out of the house. I was glad that I’d given him a key.
“You’re lucky I’m not already in California,” West said.
“He’s leaving tomorrow,” Harley whined. “I did not sign up for him ditching us all fall.”
“How’s Nora taking it?” I asked.
West grinned. “She decided to come with while she builds her celebrity wedding business.”
“I’m glad for you, man.”
“And what’s happening here?” Jordan said, shaking hands with me.
“Unloading.”
“Where do we start?” Julian asked next.
“The furniture is in Jensen’s truck. The boxes and clothes are in Eve’s SUV.”
Eve headed over to the guys with Bailey trailing uncertainly behind them. “Hey, y’all. This is my sister, Bailey.”
They all said hi and welcomed her to Lubbock. We’d all moved here ourselves in the last couple of years. We knew what it was like to be a newcomer.
Harley slid her arm through Bailey’s. “Come on. I’ll show you which room you want.”
I groaned and Harley just cackled. I’d forgotten they were only two years apart. As my sister dragged Bailey away, I hoped that a friendship would bloom. Bailey needed the support, and Harley was as strong as they came.
“So…what happened with Dad?” Jordan asked once they were gone and we moved to unload.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been texting us nonstop,” Julian said as he hopped into the bed of the truck.
“Has he?”
“Hasn’t he been messaging you?” West asked.
I blinked. The conversation with Dad had completely slipped my mind. This morning felt like a lifetime ago. “I blocked his number.”
They all gaped at me, Eve included.
“Since when?” Jordan demanded.
“Since this morning, when he showed up, uninvited, to my house, and I told him I wasn’t interested in seeing him again. That he only wanted to be a part of our lives to assuage his own guilt.”
Jaws dropped. West’s eyes rounded. Jordan and Julian shot each other looks. But Eve clapped.
“That’s amazing!”
“It felt good,” I admitted.
“And then you blocked his number,” Julian said, as if in awe. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
Jordan sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, I decided that it wasn’t. He doesn’t deserve the relationships he wants from us now. I like the relationship I have here with all of y’all. The one we built rather than the one he demands.”
They were all silent for a moment, surprised by my change of heart. The one that Eve and Bailey and Colton had solidified in me over the past couple of months. Family was what you made of it. And I was building a new one here.
“Well, good,” West said at last. “Harley will be happy.”
“I bet she will,” I said with a laugh.
And then we all went back to unloading. Dad was forgotten in the physical exertion. It wasn’t until Bailey’s stuff was deposited into her room and my siblings left that Eve left Bailey to unpack and drew me into my bedroom.
“So, that’s some big news about your dad. How do you feel about it?”
“How do you feel, having Bailey in Lubbock with you?”
“Amazing.”
“That’s how I feel, too,” I told her. “I’m tired of reaching for scraps. I want what I have here with you and Bailey and Colton and my siblings. I don’t want the fake relationship he’s always offered.”
“I’m proud of you.”
I guffawed. “Look at how you stood up to your dad. I’m proud of you. You saved your sister.”
“I hope she’s happy here,” she said, worrying her lip.
“It’ll take time, but she’ll figure it out.”
“And you really think we can live here?” She glanced up at me with that same hope in her eyes. Then a mischievous glint. “I can stay in the other guest bedroom.”
I snagged her around the waist, lifting her over my shoulder, like I’d imagined earlier. She shrieked as I tossed her back on the bed and growled, “Don’t you dare.”
She giggled, stretching her arms above her head. “I’ll pay rent. I have a fancy new job now.”
“If you like,” I told her. I didn’t care one way or another. My lips came to the sliver of skin that was exposed near her belly button.
“I’m not paying in sex,” she teased.
I snorted. “I accept Venmo.”
It was her time to laugh. “God, I can’t believe this is real. When do I wake up from the fairy tale?”
I slid up her body, covering her with my own and pressing another kiss to her lips. “You’re awake. This is real.”